Hypodermic syringe needle hub



F. S. DICKINSON HYPODERMIC SYRINGE NEEDLE HUB April 6, 1937.

Filed Feb. 21, 1934 WIT SS ,5. 2.4i@

Patented Apr. y 6, 1937 Umrao STATES PAU- 3yr OFFICE 9 Claims.

Theinvention relates to surgical instruments of the kind generally knownas hypodermic syringes and has for its object to provide an improvedneedle carriage or hub member therefor and to provide means in thestructure of said carriage for establishing a reliable connectionbetween such needle carriage and a. metal locking sleeve mounted on thesyringe barrel of the type shown in my Patent No. 1,793,068 of February'I'he invention contemplates particularly the provision of a novelneedle hub or carriage easy to manipulate and provided with meanswhereby a more facile connection is established between such member andthe barrel member or sleeve.

Although the arrangement of parts illustrated in Patent No. 1,793,068adequately performs the function of providing a positive mechanicalinterlock between the needle hub and the sleeve on the barrel, saidinterlock being auxiliary to and preservative of the normal connectionbetween the conical engaging parts of the nozzle and needle hub, themechanical features which were utilized to bring about these results didnot fully satisfy all of the requirements of syringe users. There arenumerous uses of syringes which require that the beveled point of theneedle should be in approximate alignment with the scale of the barrel.As the needle hub can enter the camway of the barrel only in one of twopositions and there is no relation between the position of the entranceof the camway with respect to the position on the glass barrel of theengraved scale, it

was only by accident that the desired relative position as between thebeveled needle point and the scale was attainable at all. Furthermore,in the structure illustrated in the patent referred to the hub sectionof the needle required a very substantial extent of rotation before itreached the locked position, this feature having awkward andinconlvenient results.

One of the objects of the invention is therefore vto provide aconstruction of needle carriage which may be easily inserted into asleeve mounted on the syringe barrel so as -to be positioned at will,when locked, approximately in any desired relation as between thebeveled needle point and the scale on the barrel and to be retained insuch sleeve in a positive locked position only slightly differing fromthe loose-position in which it was applied to the sleeve for positivesecuring therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of needlecarriage which may be easily grasped for insertion into the barrel-sleeve and which is provided withla plurality of posi- (Cl. 12S-221)tive gripping surfacesgwhereby the needle car riage may be grasped inthe course of its manipulation. A still further object of the inventionis to provide a, construction of needle carriage which is inexpensive tomanufacture and is capable of" 5 being produced in large quantitieswithout exacting mechanical operations or an undue amount of machining.A still further object of the invention is to provide a construction ofneedle carriage which will keep the hub section positively in anon-contacting position and yet will lie flat in any of a plurality ofpositions in which it may be placed on a at surface -and will also keepthe needle proper out of contact with the surface upon which thecarriage rests. Specific advantages indicated by the attainment of theabove objects will be referred to hereinafter.

A particular embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation of the lowerportion of a hypodermic syringe having my novel needle carriage appliedthereto; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview of the needle and needle carriage Fig. 4 is a section along theline 4 4 of Fig. 1; line 5-5 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a section along theline 6 6 of Fig. 2.; Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the needle and needlecarriage; and Fig 8 is an end elevation of the carriage shown in Fig. 7.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawing, I

Fig. 5 is a section along the 2 indicates a. syringe, preferably made ofglass, and which is provided with a dis- 'I'he hub 5 of the needlecarriage 6 is relatively small, light in weight, and is providedwith'the usual tapered bore] which ts upon, the correspondingly taperednozzle 'I' of the unit 34. The needle 8 is supported in the outwardlyextending end of the carriage 6 in the usual way. The outer surface ofthe carriage 6 includes a plurality of inset faces 9 and ridges I5having line-contact carriage supporting edges I5 (see Figs. 5 and 8). Atthe open end of the hub 5 itis' provided with a flattened substantiallysquare flan e Il having lateral faces Ill and corner portions onprojecting anges i2. 'I'hese projecting flanges I/Zonstitute means -onthe needle carriage, whereby a positive securing of the needle carriagewithin the barrel sleeve is obtained and whereby unintentionalseparation from such sleeve is prevented by the cooperation thereof withcoaction means on the locking sleeve 4. These flanges I2, as indicatedin Figs. 3 and '7, are slightly beveled at their camengaging surfaces,thereby tending to bring the effective interlocking portion of the angeswith the cams into alignment with a radial line extending from thecenter of the hub to the apex of the flange. 'I'he spiral cams I3 and I4disposed on the inner surface of locking sleeve 4, may be termed threadsthough the action is that of spiral cams, there being a plurality ofcams to accommodate the two sets of diametrically opposed flanges I2'which interlock with the cams for holding the hub 5 in substantially theposition shown in Fig. 2, when the said hub has been inserted with aslight rotary motion, into the locking sleeve.

It will be noted that in the described arrangement, the portions of theflange II which `are in actual locking contact with the camways I3 andI4, are of extremely small effective area, as shown at I2 in Fig. 6.This feature, upon initial consideration, would appear to bedisadvantageous, especially in contrast with the relatively widecam-engaging flanges of the needle hubs illustrated in my Patent No.1,793,068 which afford more ample and apparently more reliable surfacecontacts with the camways. Tests and extended experiments have, howeverlshown that these semi-circular flanges of the prior structure cannotonly be entirely dispensed with, and that diametrically disposed smalltriangular projections have suflicient rigidity, strength, and wearresistance to be quite as reliable and efficient, but that the use ofsuch extremely small projections leads to a number of unexpectedpositive advantages which will be hereinafter referred to.

It is desirable, in any structure of this general type, that thefinger-gripping portion of the carriage should be more massive than thelocking flange portion of the hub. In the prior carriage, withsemi-circular flanges, this result was obtained solely by increasing thelongitudinal dimension of the finger-gripping portion, the exteriorcontour of said portion and cf the locking flange portion of the hubbeing substantially identical. In the new structure, the peripheralextent of the finger-gripping portions 8-I5 is much greater than that ofthe locking flange II.

-This result is readily obtained in a simple and inexpensive manner, notobvious from an inspection of the structure, by starting with a rodhavlng the sectional outline shown in Fig. 5. Such rod is turned down toform the hub surface 5, and producing the flange II having diagonallydisposed corners I2 of the finished product. The sides I0 of the flangeI I and the inset portions 9 of the carriage 6, having been leftunaffected by the turning operation, remain in alignment with eachother, although, as a result of the turning operation, the flange II hasassumed a square rconflguration, leaving projections I5 extending beyondthe outermost parts of the flange I I, with the result that, as shown inFigs. '7 and 8, when the new needle carriage is laid upon a flatsurface, two of the edges I5 will bear the weight of the entirestructure in a balanced position, and, except for the contact lines I5',will maintain every other part of the structure positioned above thesupporting surface. Thus. no part of the flange section I0, Il, and I2(located near the medicinal entry end of the hub) ever't'ouches anysupporting surface and consequently is, to that extent, protectedagainst picking up contaminatory matter.

The corner elevations I5 are preferably angular in outline and assure aflrm gripping of the needle carriage by the fingers when inserting theneedle carriage hub into the locking sleeve 4.

In inserting the needle carriage into the locking sleeve, the carriageis gripped by any two opposite surfaces 9, placed onto the nozzle 1',and

locked thereon below the locking cams by av gentle rotation ci the hub.The spiral cams I2 and I4 are spaced a sufficient distance apart topermit the hub 5 to freely rotate for the fraction of its revolutionnecessary to have one of the flanges I2 frictionally engage the spiralcams I3 and I4 to assure a flnal perfection of flt and at the same timelock the hub in its perfectly seated condition against accidentalremoval or accidental loosening. The final rotation of the hub, which byreason of the fact that several flanges I2 serving as points of contactwith the cam surfaces are provided on the carriage, will be of a verysmall degree, and the resultant cam action between the projections I2and the spiral cams I3 and I4 jams the parts together so that uncouplingby reverse rotation is resisted by the compound effect of the frictionbetween 1 and 1' and the camming hold of the cams I3, I4 on theprojection I2, to an extent sufficient to prevent unseating of the camsin all ordinary operations of the syringe or unless a special effortsufhcient to overcome the resistance is made. At the same time, thecoupling is not so frictionally resistant as to prevent intentionaluncoupling with great ease, involving a simple manual operation appliedby gripping the needle carriage between two fingers of one hand and thebarrel or locking sleeve with the other hand and imparting a slightreverse rotative movement to these elements.

The apertures shown at I6 in Fig. 1 are provided for the purpose thatthe knozzle 1' and the cams I3, I4 may be treated with cleansing,sterilizing or disinfecting fluids.

It will be seen that the new needle carriage and structure can be usedwith great facility and with an improved effect with glass syringesprovided with the described sleeve structure.

The coupling of the needle carriage or hub to the sleeve of the syringeis an extremely simple operation. The construction of the hub, beingprovidedwith the projections I2 on diametrically opposed sides thereof,is such that the mere placing of the substantially square flange I Iupon the nozzle 1 and a slight turning of the carriage is sufficient toguide such flange II into and under the effective surface of the camwaywithin the sleeve and to secure the carriage tightly within the sleeve.With the structures of the prior art, for instance, the hub having apair of opposed semi-circular and relatively wide cam-engaging flangesillustrated in my Patent No. 1,793,068. it is in most instances of usenecessary to turn the carriage or hub a substantial amount before thetwo flanges find their proper entry into the camway and come intopositive engaging contact with the cam surfaces thereof. portions atopposite points of the flange periph-I ery at which the flange canengage the sleeve camway, necessitating a turning of the hub sometimesas much as 180 degrees before its flange comes into securing engagementwith the sleeve. An attempt to secure such desired alignment of partswas made in some of the structures of the prior art where it has beensuggested to provide Such hub has only two :,ovaiai the inner wall ofthe sleeve with an inwardly extending lug adapted to engage a matingslot incorporated in one oi the projecting senil-circular portions onthe surface of the hub. With my novel construction of needle carriagethe necessity of providing such a lug and a cooperating mating slot isentirely avoided as no particular meansv other than a mereglance at theparts heldin the hands during assembly is necessary to control the pointof entry of the projections I2 into the cam and to determine the finalseated position of the needle with relation to the scale.

By providingv two pairs of diametrically op- `posed triangularprojections upon the cam-engaging flange, as in my novel hub structure,an extremely small fraction of revolution, of such hub is sufficient tohave the flange engage the camway and become secured thereon within thesleeve, irrespective of the particular position of the hub when broughtinto juxtaposition with the nozzle 'I'. In other Words, whatever therelationship between the projections of the flange II and the startingpoint of the camway when the hub is placed uponthe Vnozzle 1', only alimited and minute amount of turning of the hub about its axis isnecessary to have one of the projections I2 come into locking engagementwith the cam surface of the sleeve 4. This enables the user to hold hisneedle in approximately the ultimately desired relative position (asbetween the scaled side of the syringe and the beveled point of ltheneedle, for example) and then obtain a reliable interlock between thecarriage and sleeve in the desired relative positions of the parts.

Itwill be noted that my improved needle carriage provides a plurality offinger grips which may be grasped in any position of the carriage, sothat no matter in what position'the carriage is grasped from asupporting surface, it is ready for insertion into the syringe sleeveWithout the necessity of turning it so as to bring one of the projectingportions of its flange into cooperative engagement with the camway ofthe sleeve. By

. providing four of such projecting portions on diametrically oppositesides of the hub and distributing the same equally about the peripheryof the flange, the needle carriage may b e inserted into the sleeve inany of a plurality of positions, in any of which one of the projectingportions I2 will properly engage the camway. The linger grips of mynovel carriage which are separated by elevated portions I5 atdiametrically opposed corners of the stock from which the carriage ismanufactured, provide convenient gripping means. The elevated portionsI5 serve in the double capacity of facilitating the grasping of thegripping surfaces and also vas means for holding the hub and the needlefrom contact with the surface on which the carriage may rest o bemounted.

In a needle carriage for use in hypodermic ges, and comprising a hubportion and a flange forfentry into and locking engagement Vwithahelical cam groove on a sleeve supported on theY syringe, thatimprovement which consists in the provision of a locking flangeconsisting of foursubstantially triangular shaped projections arranged90 apart extending and apexed out-'-` vwarlly from the hub, the apexportion of said Vprojections constituting the groove entering andengaging means, said flange being substantially j: squareeand all of theparts thereof between any consecutive two of the four triangu@projections 'a needle carriage a being of lessy radial extent portionsof said projections.

2. The combination comprising a hub having a'needle carriage portion, aneedle end, and a butt end, said hub being provided with an interiortapered bore adapted to fit upon a correspondingly tapered nozzle -oi' asyringe, a needle positioned at the needle end of said hub, said needlecarriage portion having at least two opposite parallel faces, said hubbeing provided with a section of reduced vdiameter between the needlecarriage portion and the needle-carrying Portion and, between saidreduced section and the needle-carrying section, with four substantiallytriangular projections arranged 90 apart and adapted to engage camgrooves carried by the syringe, said projections extending outward#- lyfrom said hub in approximate alignment with the axially parallellongitudinal edge portions'of the parallel faces of said carriage, allof the parts of the hub between any consecutive two of thefourtriangular projections being of less radial extent than the apexportions of said projections.

3. The combination comprisingl a hub having portion,v a needle end. anda butt end, said hub being' provided with an interior tapered boreadapted to fit upon a correspondingly tapered nozzle of a syringe, aneedle positioned at the needle end of said hub, and a flattenedsubstantially square locking flange, at the butt end of the hub, havinglateral faces and two pairs of diagonally opposed projections, theneedle carriage including a plurality of inset faces and ridges havingline-contact supportythan the said apex.

carriage is laid upon a ilatsurface, two of the contact edges will bearthe weightv of the entire structure in balanced position, and, exceptfor such line-contact edges, every other part of the structure will vbemaintained above the supporting surface.

4. I'he combination comprising a hub having a needlecarriage portion, aneedle end, `and a butt end, said hub being provided. with an interiortapered, boreadapted to lit upon a correspondingly tapered nozzle of asyringe, a needle positioned at the needle end of said hub, and aflattened substantially square locking flange at the vbutt end of thehub having lateral faces and a pair of diagonally opposed projections,the needle carriage portion of said hub including a plurality of insetfaces and ridges having line-contact supporting edges, 4the fingergripping elements -of said carriage portion having a peripheral extentgreater than that of the locking flange. l I e y 5. The" combinationcomprising a hub having a needle carriage portion, a needle end and abutt end, said hub beingprovided-with an intion only slightly differingfrom the loose posi-1 tion in which it was applied to said helicalgroove for'positive securing therein. the needle carriage portion ofsaid hubincluding. a plurality of inset faces and ridges havingline-contact supporting edges, the nnger gripping portions of said scarriage portion having a peripheral extent greater-than that of thelocking flange, and the lateral faces of said flange being in alignmentwith the inset faces of the carriage, whereby, when the needle carriageis laid upon a dat sur- 10 face, two of the contact edges will bear theweight of the entire structure in balanced position, and except for suchline-contact edges every other part'of the structure will be maintainedabove the surface. l5 6. In combination, in aliypodermic syringe, a

barrel, a tapered nozzle therefor, a sleeve surrounding the lowerportion of said nozzle, said sleeve being provided with a pair ofhelical grooves whose outer ends are located opposite to one an- 20other and in the same horizontal plane,andanee` die hub carrying aneedle, the interior of said hub being provided' with an interior-lytapered bore adapted to fit upon the tapered nozzle, said hub beingprovided with a substantially square lock- 25 ing flange consisting offour triangular projections. located at the four comers of the flangesubstantially 90 apart, all of the parts of the flange between anyconsecutive two of the four triangular projections being of less radialextent 30 than the apex portion of said projections.

7. The combination claimed in claim 6 in which the hub includes a bodyportion having a plurality of inset faces and ridges having line-contactsupporting edges, said body portion serving as a positive finger-gripfor said hub in any position thereof.

8. The combination'comprising a needle hub carrying a needle, theinterior of said hub being lprovided with an interior tapered boresection adapted to ilt upon a correspondingly tapered nozzle of asyringe, said hub being provided with a substantially square lockingflange consisting of four substantially triangular projections locatedat the four corners of the flange substantially 90, apart, all of theparts of the ilange between any consecutive two of the four triangularprojections being of less radial extent than the apex portions oi' saidprojections, whereby any two oppositely located projections becomeavailable for cooperative locking engagement with a pair ofhelicalgrooves within a sleeve carried by a syringe around its nozzle.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8 in which the hub includes `abody portion having a plurality of inset faces and ridges formingnnger-gripping elements, said ridges being in approximate alignment withthe four projections and extending outwardly to a greater radial extentthan the four projections.

FAIRLEIGH B. DICKINBON.

